We now have an expanded Super 15 rugby competition after the three Sanzar nations finally reached a compromise around the boardroom table in Dublin today, though the champagne corks were not exactly being popped by any of the protagonists.

NZRU boss Steve Tew gave a distinctly guarded thumbs-up to the solution reached between the New Zealand, Australia and South Africa partners who make up the Sanzar collective over the future of Super rugby. This follows a prolonged impasse, where major sticking points had emerged over each country’s vision for the future.

Marc Hinton writes for Rugbyheaven NZ that at one stage New Zealand and Australia had even threatened to go it alone in an Asia-Pacific competition, prompting South Africa to respond with a threat to look to align with the northern hemisphere.

Finally some common ground has been found and a “delighted” Tew said that would now be taken to the broadcasting partner by the June 30 deadline. He added that “all the boxes had been ticked” in terms of key detail, such as revenue proportions and time-frame.

However, we will have to wait until next week for details of the new competition for 2011 and beyond as all three nations go back to their stakeholders with that information before releasing it publicly.

But be assured it will be a Super 15, it will feature an expanded conference-based format and it will offer significantly more product to the broadcasters for whom the competition is being tailored.

Asked by Fairfax Media about which nation had had to make the compromises to get the new competition over the line, Tew made it clear that no one was exactly dancing a jig following the Dublin pow-wow.

“Everyone had to make some compromises,” said Tew. “It’s fair to say we’re all satisfied. No one is overly joyed and no one is bitterly disappointed, which when you try to get three parties to agree to something as complex as this is probably the right result.”

Tew would not confirm that the new competition will be the Super 15 that has been broadly outlined in discussions prior to this meeting, but effectively rubber-stamped that aspect of the agreement.

“I think you can plan reasonably confidently that will be part of the detail, but I’d rather not go much further than that at this stage,” he said.

The NZRU chief executive also indicated that perhaps it had been the South Africans who had to make the most significant shifts in terms of their preferred model, when he explained the way forward from here.

“All three parties were pretty keen to get home and give our shareholders a little bit of insight into what’s been agreed before we went public. That’s particularly important for the South Africans so we’ve agreed to that.”

Timing has been a particular sticking point prior to today’s meeting. South Africa had wanted to retain a February kickoff to the expanded competition, while New Zealand and Australia were adamant a March start was the earliest they would agree to.

New Zealand and Australia are hoping to move away from the summer sports overlap in February and also see the benefits in giving international players a longer break between seasons. On the other hand, the South Africans are reluctant for the new competition to impinge on their provincial Currie Cup which starts in July.

Further complicating matters is the June IRB-enforced test window.

In terms of the 15th team, the sticking point heading into today’s discussions had been over whether Australia or South Africa should get the new franchise. Though, given the desire to establish three distinct conferences with more “local” matches, it was hard to see how a sixth South African side could fit in with that.

Tew denied the Sanzar relationship had been damaged by the at-times bitter and public nature of the negotiations, with the Australians in particularly airing many of their concerns through the media.

“We have a very deep and very long relationship with both countries and I’m confident our relationship with both is in very good shape,” said Tew.

He added that it was not unusual for three parties with such different interests and drivers to go through robust debate in a process like this. “It’s a pity that it’s been played out in the media to the extent it has been, but that’s just the way it’s been. We haven’t played that game ourselves.”

The Kiwi boss also assured the New Zealand rugby public that their best interests had been served, though he conceded there was a qualifier.

“You do have to make some compromise to get the bigger picture ticked off. Certainly our view was to remain in a three-way venture with Australia and South Africa was in the best interests of New Zealand rugby. All the information we’ve been getting from the broadcast environment, sponsors, and market research steered us down that line.”

The successful Tri-Nations competition had not thrown up “too many issues” though Tew said there had been a further meeting with representatives from Argentina with a view to their eventual inclusion.

It’s fair to say that things are not exactly rocketing along in that area.

“That remains a work in progress and it’s still to be determined whether we can fit Argentina into a Four-Nations and add some value. But we haven’t dismissed it either,” said Tew.

“They still have quite a bit to do, and they need to go away and do it and do it pretty quickly, frankly.”

But overall Tew felt it was a significant day for southern hemisphere rugby.

“We’re very pleased,” he said. “We needed some certainty, we needed to get work done now on detail so we can be in front of the broadcasters as per our contracted timetable.

“We can now take this information forward into our discussions with the Air NZ Cup unions next week and with a little bit of luck and a following wind we might be able to nail that quite quickly too.

“Then we will have real certainty about our competitions.”

Loose-lipped Australian chief John O’Neill for once stayed silent on detail as well, but did say he was happy with the outcome.

“ARU said from the outset its first priority was to expand the Super rugby competition in conjunction with our Sanzar partners New Zealand and South Africa,” O’Neill said.

“After what has been a long and at times robust process, that ambition has now been realised. We are excited about the future as SANZAR prepares to present to broadcasters by the end of next month.”

64 Comments

i for one don’t want more local derbies. That’s what the Currie Cup is for

Comment 2, posted at 15.05.09 07:39:12 by robdylan

Okay – so how’s this gonna work now?? 5 teams per country?

Comment 3, posted at 15.05.09 07:45:37 by Prof. Ice

……be assured it will be a Super 15, it will feature an expanded conference-based format……also indicated that perhaps it had been the South Africans who had to make the most significant shifts in terms of their preferred model……

If it starts in March and finishes in May then it can only mean that the top teams (2 or 3) from each conference will go through to play the top teams from the other conferences.

Maybe then a seperate 2nd round for the lower teams in the conferences.

BUT that then means we will have a system where everyone does not play everyone else. We KNOW how vital that is to the outcome of the competition. Look at the Sharks as a perfect example of this. The two lowest teams on the Log beat us. In a conference system we will not meet the Reds. Crusaders will not meet the Reds or the Cheetahs. So no more of the “upsets” that each season throws up.

Those upsets, as much as we hate them, are what MAKES this competition

if there are conferences then why have a team limit. let sa have six teams. nz as many as they want and aus the same. these conference tournies are qualifiers and sa and call theirs the cc. so we don’t lose the cc and we have our boks in it. it is a win win. also bring japan and arg in. they get their top team in the comp and sa oz and nz get their top two. the remainder of the teams left in each country get to play out for a shield. so we have a super 8 and a sheild going on at the same time in sa. it also opens up time for test tours. this will also cut the number of games played each year saving our players.

So how will that work in practical terms then? One round of CC with all the S14 players and then when they go off to play in the rest of the tournament against the NZAR teams, we have the remaining players playing the 2nd round of the CC at a Vodacom Cup level becasue all the S14 players are out of the country.

currently the s14 links clubs together. bulls take valke players, free state takes griquas etc. so once the s14 part of the cc is over. the remaining four teams break up into their seperate unions. this can only benbefit sa rugby. we get our top teams playing eachother for half the year and then while the big boys are overseas we give our youngstters a chance to put up their hand for the next season. how many players are we losing at the moment due to limited space in the top teams.

No it won’t unless you have changed your mind after comment # 10. In 10 you say the Shield and S8 should be played at the same time, So if that happens then the VC will be unchanged from now and still give them exactly the same chance.

Do yourself a favour and sit down and do a practical exercise listing the games and the level of player available for those games and you will see none of these combines/overlapping scenarios work, unless you consider using weakened TOp teams in certain comps.

Top two teams out, Let’s say Stormers and Bulls. So then the Sharks, Cheetahs and Lions play in the VC with full strength sides. Smaller sides are only going to be given a chance to have their arses kicked, nothing else.

That’s the version I’m supporting… sort of like a RUGBY- Champions League…

But we all know it’s never gonna happen…always nice to dream in the morning…

Comment 52, posted at 15.05.09 09:22:40 by blackshark

@wiLLem (Comment 22) :
You are way to hard on yor team. It would be grossly unfair on your team to make them sit out the 2011 tournament on their 2009 results. That just wont rub.
As you later say clear heads are going to be needed by SARU when deciding who the participating teams are going to be. I see a big bun fight on the horizon.

@wiLLem (Comment 47) : but they will participate. they have to supply the required teams for the super tournie. and as long as they don’t buy players from other teams during the test season, all rules have been met.

how many non important derbies do we watch of the other countries? reds force. highlanders, blues etc. time zones have meant we watch the big games and the prime time games. so cut the crap games out with the conference system. and oinly the locals and rugby crazed foreigners will watch those derbies. saffers will watch all their conference games as they do the cc. and so it will be in all the other nations. when s8 comes around locals will watch both s8 and the shield cos they want the show that is super rugby and they will want to watch their home team play. how many games of vc rugby you watch this year? this is my point. super 14 was to big to get time to watch our future stars play.